GOOD READING JUNE 2016 13
Is there a famous book
that you’ve read that you
didn’t like?
I never finished Ulysses. And
saying that, the ground opened
and swallowed me up.
If you could only choose
one, what would be your most
treasured book ever?
For a very long time my favourite
book was The Good Soldier by
Ford Madox Ford. Brideshead
Revisited is a book I return
to frequently. I also treasure
Just William.
What inspired you to
enter journalism?
The primary inspiration is the
idea of the real story. What’s
really going on here? As
simple as that.
Which books written
by journalists have you
enjoyed?
Everything by Helen
Garner.Vasily Grossman.
Tolstoy’s Sebastapol
Sketches. Hunter S
Thompson. I loved James
Fallows’s essays, Blind into
Baghdad. Can I also mention
that I love political diaries?
I thought Bob Carr’s diaries
were beautifully written. Alan
Clark, Chips Channon
... I also enjoyed a
number of books on the
Iraq and Afghanistan
wars. Everything by
Christopher Hitchens. In
Australia, Pam Williams,
George Megalogenis,
Paul Kelly. The
incomparable Chloe
Hooper.
You tackle many important subjects
and groundbreaking investigations on
Four Corners. What drives you?
Injustice – small and large. And the unending
complexities of human beings.
What do enjoy most and least
about live interviewing?
Most: using words to uncover a truth,
the thrill of the contest. There is
nothing much to dislike, except doing a
bad job some days.
Your latest book is about the Rudd–
Gillard struggle. What do you think
the general reader thinks of the recent
current political climate and the way
politicians behave?
It’s also about
how I moved
between two
fascinating
characters and
their competing
narratives. I think
the uncertainty and
instability of the past
seven years has had
a corrosive effect on
the public’s ability
to trust the system.
What do you think of the
current state of affairs in American
politics?
Beyond satire. There is no TV satire script,
no picaresque romp ever written that
reaches these inglor ious heights.
Who do you most admire in your
profession?
There are a lot of very fine
journalists in Australia. I can’t
single one out. What I love is the
breadth of talent.You find doing
radio interviews that there is
extraordinary skill all
over Australia.
ME MY SHELF I
politicians behave?
What do you think of the
saying that, the ground opened
politicians behave?
For a very long time my favourite
by
the thrill of the contest. There is
nothing much to dislike, except doing a
bad job some days.
Your latest book is about the Rudd–
Gillard struggle. What do you think
the general reader thinks of the recent
number of books on the
Christopher Hitchens. In
profession?
profession?
There are a lot of very fine
journalists in Australia. I can’t
single one out. What I love is the
breadth of talent.You find doing
radio interviews that there is
extraordinary skill all
over Australia.
profession?
the public’s ability
to trust the system.
What do you think of the
current state of affairs in American
politics?
Beyond satire. There is no TV satire script,
no picaresque romp ever written that
reaches these inglor ious heights.